■HONG KONG
Finance chief meets banks
Hong Kong’s financial services chief yesterday weighed in on the dispute over the possible mis-selling of investment products backed by failed US bank Lehman Brothers. Financial Services Secretary Chan Ka-cheung (陳家強) met representatives of 21 banks that disgruntled investors accused of mis-selling “mini-bonds” that could now be worthless. As of yesterday noon, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority said it had received more than 3,500 complaints about Lehman bonds. The investors bought HK$12.7 billion (US$1.63 billion) of the complex financial products.
■ENERGY
Linde buys stake in Elgas
The German group Linde, the world leader in industrial gases, said yesterday it had taken full control of the Australian company Elgas for 126 million euros (US$175 million). Linde bought the outstanding stake in Elgas from AGL Energy, which co-owned the Australian specialist in liquified gases with Linde. Elgas was created in 1984 and posted sales of 225 million euros last year, Linde said.
■MUSIC
Sony buys out partner
Japan’s Sony Corp said it had completed the acquisition of German media giant Bertelsmann’s 50 percent stake in their Sony BMG joint venture, the world’s second-largest recorded music company. The venture, which is now a wholly owned subsidiary of the Japanese electronics and entertainment conglomerate, will be renamed Sony Music Entertainment Inc, Sony said in a statement late on Wednesday. The two firms joined forces in 2004 to save costs in the face of declining CD sales and the growing popularity of Internet downloads, but Bertelsmann announced in August that it was selling its stake to its Japanese partner.
■BANKING
Bank of Japan looks abroad
State-owned Development Bank of Japan plans to boost investment in overseas financial firms as it seeks to develop an investment banking group ahead of full privatization. The Tokyo-based lender, which became a joint-stock company on Wednesday, plans to double lending and investment abroad to ¥500 billion (US$4.7 billion) as foreign firms seek capital amid the global credit crisis, bank president Minoru Murofushi said at a press briefing in Tokyo yesterday. “We have a very big opportunity,” Murofushi said.
■TELECOMS
Apple drops iPhone NDA
Apple said on Wednesday it was dropping a controversial non-disclosure agreement (NDA) that software developers who wanted to create applications for the iPhone mobile telephone had been forced to sign. The NDA prevented software developers seeking to take part in the iPhone Developer Program from discussing their work, even with colleagues. Outside developers seeking to create applications for the iPhone are still required to go through Apple’s “App Store,” which controls which applications are approved or not.
■AVIATION
BA mulls Alitalia tie-up
British Airways (BA) is interested in forming a partnership with a revived Alitalia but does not want a stake in the Italian flagship, the Corriere della Sera reported yesterday. “[Investor group] Italian Air Company’s plan is satisfactory to us, it marks the start of a new era for Alitalia and, in this context, we are prepared to aim for a strategic commercial alliance,” said Yannick Hoyles, BA’s commercial representative for Western Europe.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique